Several friends travel to Sweden to study as anthropologists a summer festival that is held every ninety years in the remote hometown of one of them. What begins as a dream vacation in a place where the sun never sets, gradually turns into a dark nightmare as the mysterious inhabitants invite them to participate in their disturbing festive activities.
Although it has an elegant way of building suspense and one absolutely stunning opening scene, I think Midsommar fails for me in the execution of its sequences. The whole movie is slowly building up the dread of the pagan cult, but fails to deliver when it comes to showcasing the brutality toward the end, and after two hours of build up it's baffling how minute the payoff is. The performances are fantastic, though! And I love watching Swedish people scream.
Although arthouse horror movies really arent my thing for the most part, Midsommar falls into a strange middle ground where I wasnt bored but I wasnt invested either. I feel no need to finding the mean to read theories online, because I simply dont care. The only saving grace is the visuals, which are breathtaking and wildly creative at times, but its not a trip I want to take again.
Read Chris' full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-midsommar-ari-aster-brings-the-gore-but-lacks-the-emotion
8/08/2019 3 stars
Very poorly advertised as something it isn't; will be sure to frustrate and impress in equal measure
Methought I was enamoured of an ass.
Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed
offerings to idols, swore oaths
that the killer of souls might come to their aid
and save the people. That was their way,
their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts
they remembered hell.
Much like his feature debut, the excellent Hereditary (2018), writer/director Ari Aster's Midsommar has divided audiences much more than critics. Whereas Hereditary had an 89% critical approval rating on Rotte...
If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog :)
This was easily one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Hereditary was my favorite film of 2018, so obviously, Ari Aster's second feature grabbed my full attention from the very first announcement. Fortunately, even though Midsommar is only being released now in my country, I was able to stay away from spoilers, as well as from any sort of images or clips. As you might expect, this is not a typical horror movie, even though it's being marketed as belonging to the genre. Sure, it has some horror stuff that indisputably connects it to the genre, but it definitely doesn't play out to scare audiences or make you have nightmares at night.
Hereditary was quite div...
Midsommar might genuinely be my big disappointment for 2019. I'm not saying it's bad. But coming into this on the back of not only the crazy good Hereditary from last year, but also the gushing praise from the online horror community, I guess my expectations were a little high. It doesn't make me feel good to say it, but honestly I'm glad I didn't see this in the cinema. Firstly because I think I might've been a little mad if I had forked out $25 to see this, based on the experience I ended up happening, but also secondly, because I don't much feel like going blind in the theatre from the sheer white exposure that takes up 97% of Midsommar's runtime.
Final rating:½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didnt quite work as a whole.
An impressive work, Midsommar is Ari Asters follow-up to Herditary, a decent if flawed horror film.
Midsommar follows Dani, who, after the tragic loss of her parents and sister, decides to follow her increasingly distant boyfriend and his friends on a trip to Sweden to visit the pagan cult commune their roommate, Pelle, grew up in. While seemingly open and friendly, it becomes obvious fairly quickly that something else is going on here. The obvious comparisons to The Wicker Man are not uncalled for.
First, in the interest of full disclosure, this review is based on the nearly three-hour Directors Cut of the film rather than the theatrical release. I havent even seen the theatrical release, so I cant attest as to what was added in the ...
The Wicker Man meets The Village
Invited by their genial Swedish friend, four college students from New York take a vacation to rural Sweden to experience a Midsummer celebration at a commune. A couple of them are cultural anthropology students, who are naturally interested in the friendly isolated group and their odd ceremonies. The situation goes from friendly and curious to shocking. Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor play the American protagonists.
Midsommar (2019) is folk horror that plays out like The Wicker Man (1973/2006) meets The Village (2004) with elements of The Lords of Salem (2012). The topic of visiting a secluded pagan religious community and the increasing challenges thereof can be seen in other flicks like Ogre (20...
Hey, honey - let's take a trip to a surreal drug-fuelled Swedish festival with cruel pagan tendencies? Yes, I know - it all sounds too bonkers; and yes, for the main, it is. I think you have to be in the zone if you are going to get anything from this otherwise it could fairly be described as nonsense. There are shades of "The Wicker Man" here, but this is nowhere near as well written or as scary. Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor try their best but this just doesn't really work. On the plus side - it is beautifully shot - the purity of the light is amazing.
This place raises more red flags than Summerisle, an overlong film and the characters are as thick as pigsh*t. I was so hoping the finale would deliver the goods but it ended up as a less memorable 'The Wicker Man'.
But, but, but I do admire it.
Of course creators of this movie are big fans of the wicker man movie(excellent 60's movie). Very slow action. Didn't got bored ,but in the end not fully satisficed.
Not what it appears to be... I really did not-see this coming...
This is one of those horror movies that is actually really deep and symbolical and works on multiple levels and has multiple stories hidden within the surface narrative and in this case it's actually 3 stories that are told at the same time, though only the surface narrative is picked up consciously, the other 2 are picked up subconsciously and that's what makes it disturbing.
Be sure to watch the extended cut, because only there does it really become apparent what the other 2 stories are about. So, here go the spoilers, cause now I am gonna say what I believe those 3 themes are. Obviously on the surface it's a horror movie, but beneath that it's a drama about relati...
It starts with good premises, but is lost due to a miserable script and a direction that needs direction.
Ari Aster is not a director that I consider good. This is his second feature film, and he didn't show great talent for directing here. However, worse than his direction is his absolute lack of writing skills: the script he wrote here is mediocre, to be nice, and completely kills the film.
What I liked most about this film was the extraordinary cinematography, full of color and light and joy that makes us feel the warmth and natural vibrancy of the beginning of Summer. By largely setting his film in a rural ambience, Aster was almost able to demonize urban life, portraying urban environments as gloomy, dark, sinister and depres...
